Russia has set up "filter camps" for Ukrainian citizens in Mariupol: "This is the definition of a ghetto"
Three months after the start of the fighting in Ukraine, the degrading process known as "filtering" became part of the Ukrainian reality under Russian occupation.
This is not the first time Russia has used filtering camps as a tool of repression in war
News agencies
23/05/2022
Monday, 23 May 2022, 11:58 Updated: 13:08
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Russian forces began taking control of villages and towns in eastern Ukraine in early March, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Shortly afterwards, evidence of the treatment that the citizens receive from the Russians began to be revealed.
According to a CNN investigation, Ukrainian residents were forced to undergo degrading identity checks and violent questioning before being allowed to leave their homes and flee to areas still under Ukrainian control.
Three months after the start of the fighting, the degrading process known as "filtering" became part of the Ukrainian reality under Russian occupation.
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Satellite photo of a filtration camp in Baziman, Ukraine (Photo: Official Website, Twitter)
Citizens evacuated to a filtration camp in Ukraine
Ukrainians who have gone through the process in the last two months and despite the fear have agreed to speak in public, threats and humiliation are vital tools used by the Russians.
Many of them were witnesses or acquaintances of people gathered by the Russian forces or pro-Russian separatist forces and disappeared.
Most people who spoke to CNN described document checks, investigations, searches and fingerprinting.
Many were separated from their families.
Men were instructed to undress to undergo a physical search.
"Extensive filtering network".
Citizens evicted from Mariupol (Photo: Reuters, REUTERS)
According to Ludmila Denisova, human rights commissioner in the Ukrainian parliament, Russian forces have set up "an extensive network of places where Ukrainians are forced to undergo 'filtering'".
According to her, such places were established "in every occupied city in Ukraine" and that more than "37 thousand citizens" have already gone through the process.
Signs placed in the city of Mariupol after the Russian takeover read: "Evacuation will be approved only if the documents confirm that the subject of the documents has undergone a screening process."
Citizens leaving the Azobestel steel plant in Mariupol, Ukraine (Photo: Reuters, REUTERS / Alexander Ermochenko)
Oleksandr and Dovichenko said he was beaten by his interrogators - a combination of Russians and separatists - during the interrogation.
"What if we cut off your ear?"
He said that one of the soldiers threatened him.
He said he was asked about his political views, his plans for the future, his views on the war.
His documents were checked, his fingerprints were taken and he was forced to undress so investigators could see if he had any tattoos or marks caused by carrying military equipment.
According to his daughter Maria, the damage from the beatings her father received was so severe that the doctors who examined him afterwards determined that his vision was impaired forever.
Asobestel steel plant in Mariupol bombed by Russians (Photo: Reuters, Reuters)
In Beziman, east of Mariupol, which is controlled by separatists, a "reception center" was established at the school.
In this facility, Ukrainian refugees from Mariupol go through a screening process.
About a thousand Ukrainians arrived at the facility on time in just three days.
As of May 17, more than 33,000 people had passed through the filtering camp, according to a report by separatist forces in Donetsk.
According to Karina, whose father managed to get out of a filtration camp, the conditions there are terrible.
"Some sleep on the floor, some on a chair, and fortunately there is a mattress in the gym. There is no time to shower or go to the bathroom. Everyone is sick because it is very cold to sleep on the floor," she told CNN.
Her father said guards at the center refused to provide medication.
The food includes muddy soup.
Maria and Dovichenko said that the Russians are checking the phones of the Ukrainians to find out convicting signs, such as pictures of flags or websites.
According to her, she was forced to delete pictures of the bandura, a Ukrainian folk string instrument, from her phone.
Heavy fighting at the Azobestel steel plant in the city of Mariupol, Ukraine
In the video: Ukrainian documentation: battles at the Mariupol steel plant (Photo: Reuters)
Michael Carpenter, the US ambassador to the OECD, said last month that "Russian forces are gathering locals in these camps, arresting them and brutally interrogating them to find any connection to the Ukrainian government or independent media."
"Some evidence reveals that the 'screening process' includes beatings and torture," he said.
Mariupol City Council has accused Russian forces of using filter camps to find eyewitnesses to crimes committed by Russian soldiers during the fighting.
The Kremlin denied the reports, as did the separatist forces in Donetsk.
Destruction in Mariupol, May 2, 2022 (Photo: AP, Alexei Alexandrov)
According to relatives of detainees, citizens have no idea why they were arrested, what to expect and how long they will be held there.
"Friends told me they had to stand in line to filter for six days and spent the night in cars before starting the process," Jana told CNN.
The evidence also shows that the separatist forces in these camps are the worst of all - drunk from morning to evening and behaving cruelly.
Petro Andreyushchenko, an adviser to Mayor Mariupol, said the Russians had set up five filter camps in Mariupol alone: "If it's not a ghetto, I do not know what a ghetto is."
This is not the first time Russia has used such filtering camps during a war.
In the Second Chechnya War (2000-2009), Russia used the camps to separate civilians from the rebels.
Journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who collected testimonies from Chechen citizens who were staying with them, was murdered in her Moscow apartment in 2006.
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